The basic line of thought in this letter is to live by faith, and faith without works is dead. James then leads us into the topic of trials. He instructs us to rejoice in our trials for trials help us to grow in perseverance and by that process we become mature. Don't our lives teach us that? When things are tough, we endure and become tougher and wiser. When we exercise perseverance, we develop an inner strength and confidence. We soon find we can do things we didn't know we could. In times of trials, He encourages us to pray and seek wisdom from God to help us endure but warns us to do so beleiving. If we pray without believing, can we expect much? When we stand firm in times of trial, those that love Him are promised the crown of life. We might even see it as a wreath as is placed on a victorious athlete or military leader. This wreath shows victory but the reward for that victory is eternal life.
I think verse 13-15 is a great teaching moment. It teaches us that when we are tempted, don't blame God. In fact those temptations we struggle with are from us. They come from our own evil desires. How can we see this? Can we say that we could be sitting around and all of the sudden, we have a thought enter our mind. We recognize it as something that can trip us up, something that can cause us to stumble. At that point, we need to take charge of it. If we entertain it, it will grow and brew until we can no longer shut it out. It is us tempting ourselves and by not dealing with such things immediately and with strength, we walk a slippery slope. It might seem like out of nowhere we are in the midst of a struggle, but we allowed that thought to fester and grow. In reality, it was not really all of the sudden. We can allow it to have it's way with us or we can again take a stand and extinguish it. Once we are to this point, it is incredibly hard to fend it off and many times we are likely to fail and sin. I think of the age old picture of a person with an angel sitting on one shoulder trying to guide us into making the right decision and the little devil on the other shoulder trying to get us to misbehave, all the while the person in the middle seems to be an innocent bystander being pushed around by good and evil. When that person makes the wrong decision, then he can blame the little devil? The devil "made" me do it is the cry. If we get angry, we claim that person made me so angry. In reality, no one can make us angry or glad. We choose to be angry. If we are wronged, we can choose to walk away and not be troubled or we can choose to fume, call everyone we know and complain and lose night after night of sleep. My take on this part of James is that many temptations come from inside and we make ourselves do the things we really might want to do deep inside. Think about our experiences in such times. If we are honest, might we say that deep inside we might really wants to be pushed into a sin that we temp ourselves with? We think on wrong things, we let our mind wander to wrong things, we look at things that temp us and so on. In a sense, we torture ourselves with thoughts that tickle our flesh until we fail and sin. Then, once we have satisfied our sinful self, we start beating ourselves up for giving in. We are angry with ourselves and want to blame someone else. That is when it is easier to blame God for doing the tempting than to take responsibility for the entire episode. It is a horrible cycle and one that we need to be aware of and recognize as soon as the game begins.
Many times we find a way to blame something or someone for our sin, when if we are completely honest, we may want to sin and are really just looking for an excuse to do so. If we acknowledge that in us, we will be more aware of what is happening, realize when such things happen and be better able to have victory in our choices.
Another great teaching moment is when James instructs us to be good listeners rather than spouting off. Often times we are too eager to talk to show how smart we are or to prove another wrong. Listen, for we might not have all the information. Listen, we might learn something more than we know now. Sometimes listening and not reacting can keep peace. Not everything we deal with is worth arguing over or even commenting on.
Get rid of anger and we will move toward the righteous life that God wants to see in us. When I see a verse like this, I think of Jesus when He was being persecuted and tried. He basically answered one question. They said He claimed to be the king of the Jews and He told them they were right. From then on all the accusations and slander they threw at Him went with no response. He did not argue, get angry or retailiate. He never cursed them. Even to the cross, even to be harassed by the other two crucified. He never argued, complained or cursed anyone. He could have yelled, screamed and damned them, but His last actions were to tell the thief he would be with Him in paradise and to ask the Father to forgive them all. What an example we have to evaluate ourselves against. How do we measure up? Wow.
We are instructed to not just read the Word but to do what it says. We are Christians and our lives should reflect the teaching of the Word. If we were to run around proclaiming we knew all about nutrition and we were completely out of shape and could not withstand any physical activity, what would we be reflecting with regard to our claim? As Christians, if we study the Word and our actions do not reflect the teachings of Scripture, what does that say about us? Can we agree that in the first scenario, we would look foolish to claim we were a nutritionist? Can we also agree that if we claim to be a Christian and walked around reflecting otherwise, wouldn't we appear equally foolish? So the instruction is not to simply read the Word but let it seep into our lives so that our life actions reflect those teachings. Don't just read it, let ourselves to be changed by it and do the things we are taught.
We are further taught to control our tongues. What rolls off our tongues are a reflection of our faith and beliefs. We are encouraged to care about others and actually do something about their difficulties. Help those in need, give of ourselves to the benefit of others. Many of these things are contrary to what might be acceptable to the world, however, accepting the "ways" of the world over the teachings of the Word can be defined as becoming "polluted" by the world.
James is so full of good and healthy instruction that I cannot go over every verse in detail. It is amazing. It is a great study and keep studying it. We can all grow in wonderful ways with the words written here. Love and blessings. Great job, keep studying.